Tracy Kidder has a gift for penning eminently readable nonfiction with a social conscience. His previous works include Mountains Beyond Mountains, a chronicle of the medical activism of Paul Farmer (who has been in the news lately as United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti); Home Town, a portrait of a small New England city; and Among Schoolchildren, a profile of one inner-city classroom. Like these, Strength in What Remains combines the rich details of a personal narrative and eyewitness reporting with background research (including a cogent historical
analysis of the ethnic conflicts in Burundi and Rwanda) into a book that will fascinate, shock, and provoke thought. Education as a means of personal fulfillment and of overcoming challenges is a recurrent theme in Deo’s story. Adult educators, particularly those who work with immigrants, will find in this book confirmation of both the dramatic difference their efforts can make and the tough reality that faces their learners.
Hillary Major is Specialist for Publications and Communications at the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center.
LINCS
Program Improvement The National Institute for Literacy (NIfL) hosts resource collections focused on basic skills, program management, and workforce competitiveness. Resources have undergone rigorous review and been vetted by experts from the field, whose comments are included along with the links to the online resources: http://www.nifl.gov/lincs/ resourcecollections/RC_planning.html Program Improvement falls under the Program Management collection, and features fifteen web-based resources, including: • Guide for Managers of Adult Education Programs This New York resource, intended for new program managers, includes information on the need for adult education, working with adult learners, staffing, program design, and collaboration. • Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models In compiling this resource, the New England Learning Resource Center reviewed more than 40 postsecondary institutions and 25 PROGRESS :. Volume 22, No. 2
ABE-to-college transition programs. NIfL’s reviewer described this paper, with its comparison of transition models and program and research recommendations, as a “must read.” • An Evidence-Based Adult Education Program Model Appropriate for Research This lengthy resource by NCSALL, Harvard, and San Francisco researchers suggests a framework for adult education that addresses specific aspects of program quality supports as well as learners’ entrance and participation in a program and subsequent re-engagement in learning. The report gives a set of principles for each area, discussing their basis in learning theory and professional wisdom while noting that the research to evaluate their effectiveness has yet to be done. Funding for the National Institute for Literacy is slated to end in September 2010. Visit to the U.S. Department of Education’s website to order free copies of NIfL’s print publications. 15
